Life is Not Bubble Wrapped

from Cloth Diaper Blog by Jill February 9, 2011

Last June I had the awesome fortune to win a Feed Your Stash Friday giveaway. It was my first giveaway win and I was very excited to try out one-size diapers, as I had been using all in ones and prefolds with covers before that!

I was able to add two GroVia one-size diapers (including snap-in inserts and organic boosters) in kiwi green and mandarin orange to my little stash of cloth diapers. Don’t they just sound deliciously cute?

With my winnings came a discount code, and I was able to order 2 sets of the insert refills for a total of 6 new diapers for the AI2 system for a great price! Besides Kiwi and Mandarin, GroVia is offered in Blackberry (a yummy deep purple perfect for girls OR boys!), Vanilla, and 4 prints! They even offer a snap version for mommies who prefer that option.

Since getting my hands on these diapers almost a year ago, they have also hybridized their system, offering disposable soaker pads in a 50 ct box for those times when you can’t use cloth! You can still have that cute cloth bum, even if a disposable insert is tucked inside. Several months ago, when the Natural Baby Co brought out the disposable inserts, I was a lucky tester and received a set to try out. I tried them, gave feedback and promptly forgot them in my love of fluff! We moved recently and I dug out some disposable inserts and used them during that process. After my second go at them, I can see how disposable diapering moms could really use this system as a gentle way to transfer over to using cloth, and why GroVia advertises giving the diapers a test drive. No harm in a test-drive right? Until you fall in love with cloth diapering!

There are some definite pros to the GroVia system. They are a great daytime diaper. You can use the covers multiple times a day and just buying more inserts saves you money over other systems where you are purchasing the entire one-use diaper. They are easy to use. If you’ve used prefolds, you can use an AI2 diaper. As with prefolds, always make sure the insert is tucked in around the legs and isn’t poking out. As an All in Two, the covers can be air dried between changes, it’s a simple and easy to use snap-in cloth insert that works just as well on the medium setting as fully extended (I did not have a newborn, so I can’t speak to that), and the inserts wash up and dry well. The covers air dry easily (I hang mine on the playpen or over a laundry basket and put them in the sun if possible). The boosters are good for nap time! No red marks, and my tall 25 lb 18 month old is on the last setting with it pulled as tight as she can go pretty much, so there is room to grow. Her shape has changed, so I could probably put her back down on medium, as well, but it fits fine extended so I am keeping it there for now.

You can have 2 covers going most of the day, but I like to rotate a third one in later in the day to air the other covers out a bit more, and then use it again the next day. This system is great for traveling as it creates a slim diaper bag! The slimness also transfers over to your baby’s bottom, and allows you a few more diaper changes in those cute little jeans you want to squeeze your baby into one last time before sizing up!

Another really good option is getting a cover and some of the disposable inserts and putting them in the pocket on the back your car seat for emergencies. You can pack your bag a little lighter, or take an impromptu trip without worrying about running low on diapers. For traveling and the cuteness factor, these diapers are hard to beat. I have come across a few cons in using them for almost a year, the fine mesh inner that allows the cover to air dry can absorb the smell of urine from a really wet diaper and make your baby’s bottom a little stinky upon reuse. This can be solved by rinsing and airing out the cover, but let’s face it, the minute you do, your baby is going to invoke Murphy’s law and force you to do another change, immediately.

Which brings me to the other con, if your baby (and sometimes even a toddler), you know, poos, well then you’re going to have to change the cover. It’s almost impossible to keep it all contained, but I found that out with prefold/cover systems with a newborn as well. I find it best to have 3 or 4 covers for a toddler a day, and once they get smelly or soiled, just toss them in the diaper pail. Trust me, you will know when it is time. I have seen plenty of reviews where people try to be stingy and only use 2 covers a day. Sure, it cuts cost, but it costs you hassle in the long run. You’re going to need a few and it’s better than being frustrated, and you’re still saving over the cost of other diapering systems!

If you plan on using GroVia one size diapers as a full time system then I suggest having more covers than ‘poos’ in a day. 3 poos equals 4 covers and so on, multiply by how often you want to wash and then figure out the number of inserts. Which leads me to laundry.

I will admit that I’m a diaper laundry Nazi. I have specific diapers in specific loads so that I rotate my stash evenly. These diapers are nice because the outside cover is soft and stretchy and the touch-tape tabs do not pill, however, they don’t stick to the laundry tabs during the washing process all the time, either, nor do they stick to other diapers. You are more likely to see them stick to themselves or each other, but they don’t cause the diaper chain that other aplix tends to cause. I use my GroVia diapers as my laundry day diapers. Because I have 6 of them, I tend to use them at the end of one diapering cycle and the beginning of the other. It gives me a little freedom as to when I wash my diapers, because I can use the same cover several times.

I recommend that you try these out if you want a hybrid system, you’ve used prefolds and you want to try a one-size option to see if you like it, if you want to try a snap-in insert, you want a lower cost than adding pockets to your stash, or you want a trim fluffy butt or diaper bag.

Thanks Cloth Diaper Blog, for giving me an insight into the one-size world. I can’t believe my little squirmy baby is now a scraped kneed toddler! This post is coming at a pretty good time as well, because of the expansion and change in the GroVia product line, there will be some pretty good sales on this diaper system, starting Earth Day, so go check out GroVia!

GUEST BLOGGER

Jill is a SAHM to Keeley, 18 months. She and her husband Matthew have just finished building their first home, and are ready to settle into life in the country, with grass stains and butterflies. She enjoys country life, cooking, baking, embroidery, scrap-booking and helping her husband work on old trucks. Blog: Life is Not Bubble Wrapped, http://lilmouse.blogsite.org.

Today’s Mom in Focus is Jill of ‘Life is Not Bubble Wrapped!’

from Cloth Diaper Blog by Julie AUGUST 10, 2011

Time for another “Mom in Focus”! With each Mom in Focus post we’ll be sharing a new mom and giving her a little time to shine. We’ll ask her some questions, get her best cloth diaper advice and share with you what she’s really like. If she has a blog, we encourage you to visit her and tell her that Diaper Junction sent you! Are you interested in being a future Mom in Focus? Click here to find out how you can submit your details for our Mom in Focus Feature. Thanks!

I’ve been married to my husband Matthew for almost 10 years. I’m a stay at home mom to Keeley (2.5) and pregnant with #2 (due August 2011). My degree is in Psychology, which I use every day! I love to do crafts, especially as gifts when I have enough time, or at the holidays. So far I’ve done cross stitch, simple painting (wooden shapes for magnets or on a small canvas), scrap booking, and making felt foods. I’m a blogger too.

How’d you find out about cloth diapers and what made you decide that you’d like to use them instead of disposables?

One of the blogs I read for a few years before having kids told about her experience with pocket diapers, how easy they were, a whole testimonial. It opened up a huge world to me while I was pregnant. We were initially drawn by the money savings of cloth diapers, but the cuteness and environmental factors of soon took over.

What has surprised you most about using cloth diapers?

It’s so easy! We started part time with prefolds, not wanting to make a huge investment when everything was so new! I was surprised that my husband fell in love with them before I did. I grabbed some AIOs from a local store that we found, and quickly fell in love myself. Things started to seem easier when we weren’t washing every night, and with some ‘quick’ diapers we could use at night, it became easier than disposables. Who wants to drag a newborn AND a giant sack of disposables out to the dumpster every few days?

If you had to give advice to a new mama or a mama who was considering cloth diapers what would it be?

I always tell them to invest in a few at first, and give them various websites to read up on the different styles to help them figure out what would work for them. I also always suggest to enter giveaways. Why invest $20 in a diaper you’re not sure you’ll love when you could win one instead? I almost always do a price point comparison for them, too.

What types of cloth diapers primarily make up your stash and what are your favorite brands/styles to use?

I have prefolds/covers and AIOs in small, one contour and fitted each in small from my original stash, AIOs in medium, a one size AIO, and a lot of one size pockets. I also have one swim diaper. My favorite brand is bum Genius (they are local for us!). However, I do have a LOT of different types, won in giveaways, or purchased with gift cards. I do love prefolds for a newborn, with AIOs to use at night or on the go. However, my staple is pocket diapers. I don’t love stuffing them, but they are a combo of the ‘best’ in diapers in my opinion. I’d love to try a tongue style diaper next.

Besides cloth diapers, what accessory would you say is the biggest necessity?

Cloth wipes. I waited a year to invest, and felt silly afterward. They clean up so much better, even with plain water, than disposable wipes.

Besides cloth diapering does you family have any other “green” or eco-friendly practices?

We use cloth napkins, and use old towels to clean up messes. We try to avoid all paper type plates/utensils, and recycle as much as we can! If we can find a reusable way to do it, we do it!

If you could go on a $100.00 shopping spree at Diaper Junction, what products would you throw in your cart?

Wow! My daughter is almost potty trained, so baby #2 would be the REAL recipient of everything! Let’s see, I would definitely go for some more newborn/small diapers, maybe a few more fitteds, and a couple of the tongue-style diapers or other ‘new releases’ that I haven’t tried yet.

We created an email address for my daughter, and every so often I send her a message to read in the years to come, this is today’s:

Dear Keeley,

Mother’s day is coming up, and this is my second year at it. How am I doing? Right now you are a bouncy, shrieking with joy, mud puddle splashing mess! You won’t remember apartments lived in, countless diaper changes, block towers, or the endless times you were told ‘no’ to pulling the cable box off of the television. What I hope you remember is laughter. Lightning bugs. Shade trees. Kool-aid grins and Popsicles running down your arms. I hope you remember snow forts, wildflowers, and cuddles on the couch. You won’t remember house construction, or scraped knees, or the many times you ate dirt. I do hope you remember feeling safe, loved, treasured. I’m so glad you were born. You won’t remember tantrums, or immunizations, or early morning nursing sessions. I will remember, though. The agony of labor too soon, the joy of hearing ‘it’s a girl’, and checking clearance racks for the next year’s clothes. I hope you remember the good things, the happy things, the reasons your dad and I gave you life. Strawberries and butterflies, watching the ripples in the bed of the creek, sand in between your toes and skimming rocks. I hope you remember the names of flowers and birds, hawks circling, owls calling out in the night. I hope you remember peace, and stability and joy. I hope family hugs never go out of style and that kisses to your temple are always sweetly cherished. Motherhood is amazing and traumatic, pain and delight, holding tight and letting go. It hits me at this moment that you are the reason I am here. Your sweet smile, your frustrated cry, no one could have shaped you but me. For everything we have shared and will this is my only dream: for you to live, fully and with unfettered joy, is my mother’s day wish for you. You are 18 months old, and I am so glad you were born.